TY - JOUR

T1 - The moderating role of experience on the relationship between trust and performance of cooperating SMEs in transformation economies

AU - Fink, Matthias

AU - Harms, Rainer

AU - Keßler, Alexander

N1 - ISSN 1576-0162

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - To achieve successful cooperative inter-firm relationships, trust between the partners is a key factor. As trust that is based on the self-commitment of the partners to behave in a non-opportunistic way (maxim-based trust) takes time to evolve and relies upon the cooperation experience of the partners, we expect that the positive performance impact of maxim-based trust grows over time. The purpose of this paper is to test the moderating effect of cooperation experience on the relationship between maxim-based trust and performance in the context of cooperating small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two transformation economies (Czech Republic and Slovenia): Based on a sample of 124 SMEs, a moderated regression analysis reveals that trust and cooperation experience impact positively on performance. However, we could not detect a moderated relationship. We conclude that maxim-based trust may be an effective and efficent coordinating mechanism in the dynamic context of cooperating SMEs in transformation economies, but the absence of a moderating effect indicates that firms do not seem to increase the effects of maxim-based trust over time.

AB - To achieve successful cooperative inter-firm relationships, trust between the partners is a key factor. As trust that is based on the self-commitment of the partners to behave in a non-opportunistic way (maxim-based trust) takes time to evolve and relies upon the cooperation experience of the partners, we expect that the positive performance impact of maxim-based trust grows over time. The purpose of this paper is to test the moderating effect of cooperation experience on the relationship between maxim-based trust and performance in the context of cooperating small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two transformation economies (Czech Republic and Slovenia): Based on a sample of 124 SMEs, a moderated regression analysis reveals that trust and cooperation experience impact positively on performance. However, we could not detect a moderated relationship. We conclude that maxim-based trust may be an effective and efficent coordinating mechanism in the dynamic context of cooperating SMEs in transformation economies, but the absence of a moderating effect indicates that firms do not seem to increase the effects of maxim-based trust over time.

KW - Management studies

KW - Cooperation

KW - Trust

KW - Cooperation experience

KW - Maxim-based Trust

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650471531&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Journal articles

SP - 135

EP - 154

JO - Revista de Economia Mundial

JF - Revista de Economia Mundial

SN - 1576-0162

IS - 26

ER -